Patterson & Francis Aviation Company

{{Short description|American aircraft manufacturer}}

{{Notability|Companies|date=June 2012}}

{{Infobox company

| name = Patterson & Francis Aviation Company

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| predecessor = Patterson Aeroplane Company

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| defunct =

| location = San Francisco, California

| industry = Aircraft manufacturer and maintenance

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| key_people = C.H. Patterson, John Thompson Patterson,{{cite book|title=Who's Who in American Aeronautics|page=82}} Roy Newell Francis

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Patterson & Francis Aviation Company was an American aircraft manufacturer and repair service in the earliest days of powered flight. The company started as the Patterson Aeroplane Company, based in San Francisco, California.

In 1912, Chas H. Patterson built and tested his own aircraft based on a Nieuport design. Later aircraft included twin tractor designs from his future partners, Roy Francis and Frank Bryant. Shortly afterward, production moved to 1410 Howard Street.{{cite journal|journal=Aero and Hydro|date=13 July 1912|title=Activity at the flying fields}}

Patterson built Nieuport style aircraft and custom parts for early aviators such as Fritz Schiller and E.F. De Villa. The company also built aircraft to compete for the Gordon Bennett Trophy.{{cite journal|journal=Aero and Hydro|date=14 September 1912}}{{cite journal|journal=Aero and Hydro|date=21 September 1912|title=Activity at the flying fields}} Allan Haines Loughead, co-founder of Lockheed, contracted Patterson for a float to be used on the first Loughead aircraft, the ALCO model G.{{cite journal|journal=Aero and Hydro|date=14 December 1912|title=Activity at Flying Fields and Hydro Havens}}{{cite journal|journal=Aero and Hydro|date=1 February 1913}}

In 1913, the company produced a twin-propeller flying boat that competed in the 1913 Great Lakes Reliability Trophy.{{cite web|title=Guide to H.W. Zurilgen Collection|url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt7q2nf735/|accessdate=9 December 2011}} Competing against Glenn L. Martin, Francis earned 6722 points flying a route around the Great Lakes. The aircraft developed mechanical difficulties around Pentwater, leaving Francis with a twelve-hour train ride to get parts to continue.{{cite news|newspaper=The New York Times|date=12 July 1913|title=Air Racer Brushes Death}}

The historical papers of the company are now held by the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library.{{cite book|title=Aeronautics and space flight collections|author=Catherine D. Scott|page=16}}